Meridian school board, superintendent get ready for report cards

By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
Aug. 19, 2003
School Superintendent Sylvia Autry outlined what school-by-school report cards will look like Monday night during a meeting of the Meridian School Board.
The report cards will be issued after the Mississippi Department of Education issues performance ratings for each campus in September.
Report cards, to be generated by local educators, also will include an improvement plan for each school and results from this year's Mississippi Curriculum Test.
The board also presented Wayne Whitehead, a music teacher at Carver and Magnolia middle schools, with a plaque commemorating 30 years of perfect attendance.
During the regular monthly meeting, the board also approved an amended budget for the 2002-2003 school year. It included the cost of construction at Meridian High School, the repayment of the 1992 school bond and money added to several activity funds.
The board also heard the following items:
Three counselors and four social workers will be added to the district. Witherspoon, Crestwood and West End elementary schools will have their own counselors; the others will rotate among the other elementary schools. They will be paid by the Safe and Drug Free Schools grant.
The Safe and Drug Free Schools grant also will pay supplements for coaches at Northwest and Kate Griffin junior high schools and a crossing guard at West End Elementary.
The Boys and Girls Club contract was amended to add the use of two buses during the fall and spring semesters. The original contract was approved in June with the use of one bus.
The board scheduled two work sessions to allow principals to present their Mississippi Curriculum Test scores and to explain their school's improvement plans. The sessions will be Sept. 16, at 5:30 p.m., and Sept. 22, at 5:30 p.m.